If you’re thinking of being a ‘fashionably late’ bride at your own wedding, you might want to consider these suggestions.

It’s certainly been a bit of a trend to let your betrothed hang on a little before seeing you come down the aisle on the day of your wedding. But I have to say, it’s your wedding day – so why would you want to be late?

On occasions, it’s unavoidable to be late. Unpredicted traffic. A parking mishap. But I would advise you to think twice about being fashionably late.

Ten to 15 minutes is within the realms of acceptable, but anything more than that and things start to get tricky. Think about how your wedding guests would feel if they’re having to wait around for an extra 20 to 30 minutes for you to arrive. Especially if it’s a hot day and they are waiting in an overheating atrium or outside in the baking sun. Put yourself in your guests’ shoes.

If you genuinely think you might run out of time to get all the preparation done, factor this in and get your hair and make-up done early. These aspects of the preparation always take longer than anticipated, in my experience. Give yourself plenty of chill-out time, so you can eat into this downtime if you need to. It will also help you deal with any last-minute stress or nerves knowing that you’ve got too much time versus too little.
Venues may have multiple weddings booked on a single day, so although it might be “all about you”, it’s actually about other people’s schedules, too. If you are deliberately late, you may cut into the length of your actual ceremony, and that’s not fun.

On top of that, it means there’s less time for photos. That particularly becomes an issue if you’re an afternoon wedding and the sunset isn’t far away. Getting those sunset poses may be problematic if things aren’t running as per the schedule.

So, my advice is: stick to your original timings. Do what you say you’re going to do on the wedding invitation. Your groom and wedding guests will thank you for it, and I’d say your stress levels will, too. Your wedding photos will be stunning, as will the ensuing memories of a fantastic day of celebration.